Penn State: McGloin's 22nd start will be his last one

Matt McGloin will be able to tell his grandchildren a story. He'll be able to tell it from a memory that never quits, in the words of a kid who learned to loathe the word during pickup football games with his older brother in the backyard of his family's home in West Scranton.

It will be the story of Rocky on a gridiron. A man who was never supposed to get the opportunity of a lifetime, but wound up with one. A quarterback who didn't have the size or the arm strength or the pedigree to plaster his name throughout the record books in a football program like Penn State's.

He didn't come in with a scholarship, but he somehow left as an unquestioned leader on a team that through the five years he wore the blue and white has been to the Rose Bowl, through milestones and comebacks, through hell and back.

Yeah, he has a story to tell those grandkids. And Matt McGloin sees no better place to start than at the beginning.

"I'll always have the stories about how many big games we've won, about the first win, my first start," McGloin said. "But I'll tell them about the journey. I'll tell them about starting out as a walk-on, and that wasn't easy. I'll tell them about sitting in with the scout team, knowing I had to earn every player there's respect. I mean, I was a walk-on. There had to be guys there thinking I must not be very good."

By Saturday night, perhaps the most unlikely chapters ever written by a Penn State football player will end. McGloin's 22nd start will be his last one, and once it's over, he'll walk away from the program he walked onto the owner of no less than seven career or single-season passing records, including the coveted career touchdowns mark. He'll finish a solid second to Zack Mills in career completions and yardage. He'll have the distinction of being the first former walk-on to start a game for legendary coach Joe Paterno - the man he credits for giving him the chance no other coach would - and the last quarterback to start a game for him, period.

Unlike Zack Mills, and other Penn State greats like Kerry Collins, Chuck Fusina and Todd Blackledge, McGloin had just one full season as a starter for the Nittany Lions. He threw just two passes in his first two years with the Nittany Lions, and playing behind an established star like Daryll Clark and prized four-star recruits like Pat Devlin and Kevin Newsome, why would he ever play more? He was a no-star recruit with no scholarship offers from an NCAA Division I-A school to speak of, and walk-ons at Penn State typically do well just to make a contribution on the scout team.

"Going into freshman year in college, I said to one of my friends, 'Listen, just watch Matt,' " said Shawn Irving, McGloin's longtime friend and former teammate at West Scranton. "He always works hard. He is always prepared. He always catches a break. All the kids from the rival schools, they'd say he was never going to play. But I never counted him out, because I knew he was going to find a way to have a shot."

Even after Clark graduated, Devlin transferred and Newsome struggled, McGloin's chances to see significant playing time never seemed to dramatically improve. In the spring of 2010, Penn State signed two more four-star recruits who were supposed to be the future of the program. But Rob Bolden struggled on the field, and Paul Jones slumped in the classroom. In the first half of the Nittany Lions' game at Minnesota on Oct. 23, 2010, Bolden - ironically having perhaps the best game of his career - suffered a concussion. McGloin entered the game, threw a touchdown pass to Derek Moye on his second attempt, and led Penn State to victory.

At that point, he had gotten everything he had ever hoped: a chance.

"It's a really unbelievable story," Penn State offensive tackle and fellow fifth-year senior Mike Farrell said. "The road he has been on should impress anyone. When you look at it from the outside, you have to wonder how he accomplished something like that. But really, his fire, his passion to just be on this football team competing, that is something that has been clear as day to us. That's what makes sense to us, with what he has done and how he has done it."

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Paul McGloin tells a story about his son's competitiveness. During one of the one-on-one football games his sons John and Matt would play against each other in their neighbor's backyard, Matt stormed through the door, anger peaking in his voice. John, he complained, tried to throw a pass to himself past the line of scrimmage.

Matt called that an unfair tactic in a one-on-one game. At the time, Matt was 4.

"Even if it was in the backyard with his older brothers," Paul said, "Matt had to win."

Matt had to win. Matt had to prove himself.

The star who despises to be called a "former walk-on," McGloin never got over the sting of being turned down. He never let go of the frustration of being told after throwing for 5,485 yards and 58 touchdowns in three seasons as a starting quarterback at West Scranton that he still didn't have enough of the natural talent to be a quarterback at the highest level of college football.

Few doubt that is what has driven him to succeed.

"He's got tough skin and he believes in himself," his soft-spoken quarterbacks coach, Charlie Fisher, said. "And those are good attributes."

In coach Bill O'Brien's fast-paced, pro-style offense and under Fisher's consistent, positive tutelage, McGloin excelled in his only season as Penn State's unquestioned starter in 2012. Entering Saturday's season finale against Wisconsin, McGloin has thrown for 6,190 yards and a team-record 45 touchdowns. Not bad, his teammates say, considering he split time for most of his career.

Asked if McGloin's story still amazes them, though, some teammates balk at the thought of perpetuating the "former walk-on" story. How much confidence has the team developed in McGloin since the season started? Silly question to sophomore receiver Allen Robinson. Anybody who has known McGloin, watched him prepare and practice, has had confidence in him long before the games began.

"He's grown just as a player," fullback Michael Zordich said. "He knows the playbook. He knows routes. He knows how to read the coverages, what his options are. He has played great all year. There's no reason not to have confidence in him."

McGloin became a fascinating story not because he carried the weight of a massive chip on his shoulder, Fisher said, but because back in his high school days, college recruiters simply misjudged his ability.

"He has not forgotten. I can tell you that," Fisher said. "That's certainly part of what makes Matt. It's important to him to do well, and he remembers that stuff. But that's just part of it. That's not what makes you play good every week."

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In a day, the curious and courageous and captivating college career of Matt McGloin will be as much a part of history as the records he set and the trends he started.

He'll be emotional, he said. He'll be looking forward to the future ... but man, what a past.

He'll go to sleep Saturday night, weary from 60 minutes of football and a season of triumph and tumult, and he'll do so knowing he got every ounce of production from every gift ever bestowed upon him.

For once, he'll be satisfied.

"I definitely feel comfortable knowing that," McGloin said. "I've used everything God has given me. There will definitely be times when I will think, 'I could have done this better.' There's always going to be that. But I tried. I can definitely say I'm comfortable knowing I tried. I gave it my best.

"My mother always told me, never have regrets. I don't have regrets."

Contact the wrtier: dcollins@timesshamrock.com

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